Liz-Halliday Sharp is recovering at home in Ocala, Florida, after a fall on the intermediate course at the Red Hills International Horse Trials in Tallahassee, Florida, on March 12.

Halliday-Sharp was riding her own Maryville Sir Henry, a 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Sir Shutterfly—Pennies Royale, Cavalier Royale). The gelding has experience through the intermediate level. They fell at Fence 3, a skinny rolltop with a downhill landing into the treeline.

Liz Halliday-Sharp (pictured on Cooley Moonshine) is recovering from a fall at Red Hills. Lindsay Berreth Photo

Halliday-Sharp, 43, had already completed five cross-country rounds in the CCI3*-S, CCI2*-S and open intermediate divisions and was leading the CCI3*-S with Cooley Moonshine. The Tallahassee area had received huge amounts on rainfall during the week, which led to wet ground, although it was sunny on cross-country day.

“The horse is an outstanding jumper—probably one of the best jumpers I have,” she said. “I was the very last of the day, so the ground was at its worst. He slipped on the turn away from the jump, so ended up very deep to it, just out of the nature of having lost his hind end before it. He ended up leaving both front legs on it, which I think the ground actually collapsed underneath him in front of the jump because at the time I thought we were going to be fine. He saved it on the landing, and as he was trying to pull his neck up, the ground was so terrible on the landing side that he stumbled in it again and did a full nose-dive and flipped over. He fired me into the ground at speed face-first and then rolled onto me. It could have been a whole lot worse.”

Halliday-Sharp, Ocala, Florida, and Lexington, Kentucky, was wearing an airvest that deployed. While “Henry” was fine, she has a swollen leg and ankle and two displaced rib fractures and has bound herself with a chest wrap to heal.

“I’m doing everything I can,” she said. “I’m lasering myself, putting the RevitaVet on, everything I can think of because I need to get back in the tack.”

Show jumper Peter Wylde will compete her horses at the World Equestrian Center-Ocala this week, and Phillip Dutton is stepping in to cross-country school them.

“I’ve been really lucky because I’ve had Erik Duvander gallop Deniro Z and Cooley Quicksilver for me yesterday morning, and he galloped Cooley HHS Calmaria today,” she said on March 15. “My staff have been amazing in helping me out, so I’m trying to help them [by teaching] a little bit on some of my horses and their own horses, just kind of staying involved rather than mope about at home. I’m really lucky to have a lot of great support around me, and I’m hoping to be at Carolina [International CCI4*-S (North Carolina) next week] in some fashion.”